We Use How Much Water? Scary Water Footprints, Country by Country

Great. Yet another "America is irresponsible and uses more than its fair share of resources" article. I just can't get enough of these!

Canada has 20% of the world's fresh water supply, let's invade Canada.

Sure, come on over. Meet me on the beach, I've got something I want to show you.

Who has the other 80%? Let's invade them, too. (After Canada, of course.)

This is a statistical comparison that does not prove anything.

Irrigation of a fodder crop in the arid parts of America may use 10000 to 15000 m³/ha/year (wild guess). This cannot be seen as wasteful use. Irrigation in China may need less because of higher rainfall.

I would however like to see statistics of wasteful use.

In SA pollution and recreational use is also counted as a use.

What volume of water do one use when swimming?

I wonder if the fossil water used in Saudi Arabia for the irrigation of more that 200000 ha of irrigation was considered.

I really would like a logical argument as to why I should be concerned...

Because our use of water in the western US is depleting the water tables, sucking the rivers dry and is totally unsustainable? Or that we use so much water in Texas that even here in Clear Lake water restrictions are being imposed?

I use 13,000 gallons (US)/day and the river I live next to doesn't go down a bit. What does make the river go down is the pumps pushing more than half the flow to water cotton in central Calif. Water use as a global statistic does not make sense. I've got a lot of water to use and a small homestead upon which to use it. Texas and other arid areas don't... so they shouldn't use what they don't have.

"Whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin'"...

Actually, the river you live next to does go down a bit.

I could live forever on the water in our reservoir. It's when 5,000,000 of us try to live off it that we have a problem.

I concede, it does go down. I use 10 gallons a minute, the river, at low flow, is 202000 gpm(450cfs). 0.0000000495% of the flow. Or 0.000000002% on an average winter flow(10000cfs). But this water is not lost. It goes into my plants and soil on a high bar above the river and percolates back into the water table. This is versus a suburban sprinkler running of into a storm drain and diverted out into a channel and flushed into the ocean.

Water use is a matter of availability. My use has no negative effect on anyone, anywhere in the world. With studies like this one where statistics are boiled down to some BS average and the social 'engineers' get together and create policy for the whole world they impact everyone through flawed logic. There is already a World Water Council with the idea of taxing all water use, as a global resource, regardless of reparian rights.

Ah now bhankiii, that is a completely different problem, with a wide variety of engineering solutions.

The fact is that cities like El Paso and Las Vegas should not be there, and in places like that water supply should be a primary consideration in any new development. Water restrictions in Clear Lake are not a matter of not having water in the eco system available, Clear Lake gets 40" of rain a year. It is clean drinkable water that is the issue. Let us not confuse water consumption with water processing.

On the other hand large cities and industrial complexes in the middle east have solved this problem by desalinization. A nice engineering solution, but energy intensive. Again energy is the issue not water availability. Even Las Vegas can be a jungle if there is enough energy available at a cheap price to bring water to them.

I've got to go with Steve on this one. What is the point? It would make more sense to say we are land hogs than water hogs. My wife and I have six boys and live in a 3700 sq. ft. home on a 2 acre plot of land. Do you know how many people in China would live in a 3700sq.ft. home!? And how many homes would be on a 2 acre plot of land!?

As for the amount of water used, a huge portion of that water is used in cleaning, or irrigation. I know that in my home, the dishwasher gets run at least once a day and the clothes washer gets run twice, then when you add thirty or so toilet flushes and at least 8 showers or baths...well you folks can do the math, lots of water.

Guest and Steve hit the nail on the head. SO WHAT?!?!?!?!? This PC, save the earth and baby whales, kill the unborn babies crowd makes me want to VOMIT!

Me too! Look at the distribution on the water map presented. If you want to be a major manufacturer you need plenty of water.